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31 .\" @(#)wc.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
39 .Nd word, line, character, and byte count
48 utility displays the number of lines, words, and bytes contained in each
51 or standard input (if no file is specified) to the standard output.
52 A line is defined as a string of characters delimited by a
55 Characters beyond the final
57 character will not be included
60 A word is defined as a string of characters delimited by white space
62 White space characters are the set of characters for which the
64 function returns true.
65 If more than one input file is specified, a line of cumulative counts
66 for all the files is displayed on a separate line after the output for
69 The following options are available:
70 .Bl -tag -width indent
74 in a selection of different human and machine readable formats.
77 for details on command line arguments.
79 The number of characters in the longest input line
80 is written to the standard output.
83 argument is specified, the longest input line of
85 files is reported as the value of the final
88 The number of bytes in each input file
89 is written to the standard output.
90 This will cancel out any prior usage of the
94 The number of lines in each input file
95 is written to the standard output.
97 The number of characters in each input file is written to the standard output.
98 If the current locale does not support multibyte characters, this
102 This will cancel out any prior usage of the
106 The number of words in each input file
107 is written to the standard output.
110 When an option is specified,
112 only reports the information requested by that option.
113 The order of output always takes the form of line, word,
115 The default action is equivalent to specifying the
121 If no files are specified, the standard input is used and no
122 file name is displayed.
123 The prompt will accept input until receiving EOF, or
125 in most environments.
131 environment variables affect the execution of
138 Count the number of characters, words and lines in each of the files
142 as well as the totals for both:
144 .Dl "wc -mlw report1 report2"
146 Find the longest line in a list of files:
148 .Dl "wc -L file1 file2 file3 | fgrep total"
152 utility was documented to define a word as a
155 characters delimited by <space>, <tab> or <newline> characters
157 The implementation, however, did not handle non-printing characters
159 .Dq Li "\ \ ^D^E\ \ "
160 counted as 6 spaces, while
162 counted as 8 characters.
166 modified the implementation to be consistent
167 with the documentation.
168 This implementation defines a
172 function, as required by
177 option is a non-standard
179 extension, compatible with the